


Came knocking at my door

by Krytella



Category: Inception (2010)
Genre: 1920s, Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - 1920s, Alternate Universe - Historical, Crossdressing, Dancing, F/F, Gay Bar, Infidelity, Kissing, Prohibition
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-12-27
Updated: 2012-12-27
Packaged: 2017-11-22 15:12:53
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 818
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/611211
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Krytella/pseuds/Krytella
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Commentfic for the prompt: "Mal/Ariadne WEARING SUITS AND LIGHTING ONE ANOTHER'S CIGARETTES."</p>
<p>Ariadne is the bartender at a lesbian speakeasy in prohibition-era Chicago. Mal is the singer.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Came knocking at my door

**Author's Note:**

> Title from the song "Blue Skies." Song lyrics changed from the original posting to fit the timeframe of my current headcanon for this 'verse. I prefer blues to jazz from this era but it would be unlikely for a white woman to be singing it.

Mal sings here most weeks, now.

She's good. Ariadne understands why Doris asked her back, despite who her husband is, despite his man who always sits in the table in the corner, watching Mal and the door. The list of men allowed in the Orchid is short, and on a usual day he isn't on it, but Mal brings the customers.

_"I was blue, just as blue as I could be  
Every day was a cloudy day for me"_

Ariadne watches her as much as she can between slinging drinks. Mal's wearing a dark dress, maybe blue or purple, too dark to see but Ariadne recognizes it. Even the wife of the owner of one of a speakeasy apparently isn't flush enough for a new dress every week. She's beautiful, though.

"She's something, ain't she?" says one of Ariadne's regulars. "If I dressed up all pretty, would you look at me like that?"

Gerry is an inveterate flirt.

"Is it that obvious?" Ariadne sighs.

_"Noticing the days hurrying by  
When you're in love, my how they fly" _

"Ever tried having a conversation with her, honey? Or do you just stare from the distance?"

"She's married."

"So's Mina. And Bea," Gerry nods to a couple nestled together at one of the tiny tables.

The subject of their conversation interrupts. Ariadne hadn't even noticed her leave stage.

"A drink for the entertainment, ma cherie?" Ariadne feels like she can't breathe.

"On the house, as always," she smiles anyway. Ariadne's professional face is good. Here, she doesn't have to simper and giggle. She can wear a suit and handle the hard liquor. It's her own brand of charm, as she's learned.

Ariadne pours her the best, none of Yusuf's "cleaned" ethanol. He hasn't poisoned any of their customers yet, but she doesn't trust him.

"Cigarettes?" asks Mal as Ariadne puts the drink in front of her. Ariadne pulls one from under the bar. In a sudden burst of courage, she raises it towards Mal's mouth. Mal just parts her lips and lets Ariadne set it there. Her hand almost brushes Mal's cheek.

Ariadne lights a match, leaning over the bar to reach the tip of the cigarette. Mal looks directly into her eyes, a seductive smile spreading across her face as she inhales. For a moment, Ariadne is frozen, breathing in smoke when Mal breathes it out. The heat of the match in her fingers startles her into motion, then, and she blushes and pulls away to extinguish it.

"Good crowd," says Mal.

"Always, when you're here."

"You're always here. How long have you been tending bar?"

"A year now?"

"You're young for it."

"I'm good at it."

What else would she do? She left Wisconsin with almost nothing. This is home now, more home than the cold, tiny room she can barely afford.

"Yes, I suppose you are," Mal agrees. "Do you dance?"

"I'm working."

"I'll watch it, honey," says Gerry. Ariadne had almost forgotten she was there. "Go."

She wants to, of course. Doris taught her in her first month of nights off, when Ariadne started the pattern of spending all her time here, working or not.

She walks around the tiny bar and offers Mal her hand. Benny's playing a slow tune at the piano. She likes his songs, which is good because a piano and a singer is all a joint like this can afford.

Ariadne sets her hand on Mal's back. When Mal lays her arm lightly on hers, Ariadne already knows it's going to be good. She can feel Mal balanced lightly on her feet. They sway to the music, a slow one step in place on the tiny dance floor. Ariadne draws them together, and Mal presses against her willingly. The softness of her breasts is tantalizing through the layers of Ariadne's jacket and shirt.

Mal’s singing softly in her ear, words in French. Ariadne doesn’t understand, but it’s beautiful anyway. Feeling Mal’s body move with her is beautiful.

“Where did you learn to dance like this?” asks Mal.

“Here. I learned a lot of things here,” Ariadne says, and it’s true. A lot of things she’d like to do with Mal, if she could.

“Oh, really? Kiss me, then.”

Ariadne doesn’t believe it. She glances at the man in the corner. She’s no fool.

“Don’t worry, sweetheart. Arthur knows when to keep his mouth shut.”

Mal laughs, and Ariadne tilts her head up and kisses her. She tastes like cigarettes and gin, and she kisses like a woman, soft lips and a tiny graze of teeth. They’re still dancing, almost imperceptible steps to the molasses beat of the music. Ariadne frees her other hand to slide down Mal’s side, feeling the pinch of her waist, cupping the curve of her hip.

The song ends.

“Thank you for the dance,” whispers Mal. Ariadne watches her hips sway as she slinks back towards the stage.

**Author's Note:**

> After I wrote this it somehow grew an entire AU in my head, but I haven't written it. Here's the not!fic form for anyone interested.
> 
> Ariadne is only 18 when she starts working at the bar. She meets Mal soon after that; Dom owns his own speakeasy and she sings there, and at a couple of other bars. Mal and Arthur have a relationship based more on mutually assured destruction than affection, though they do like each other. He hides her many affairs from Dom, and she hides the fact that Arthur's gay. Arthur is guarding the door when Mal and Ariadne finally hook up, and she lets him secretly watch her have sex with men. Including Eames. Who figures out what's up, hooks up with Arthur once in a while, but also blackmails him with threats of telling Dom. After all, Eames has a lot less to lose.
> 
> When Mal dies in suspicious circumstances, Dom flees to Canada. He and Arthur do freelance criminal work there. Saito, one of the two major gang lords, offers him a chance to come back if he can do one thing: convince Robert Fischer to break up his father's organized crime empire. They bring in Eames because he's an experienced con artist, and Yusuf for... drugging people? Ariadne because they need a woman to seduce Robert. Then there's a bunch of heist/con plot which I am no good at. Did I mention literally everyone except Arthur was sleeping with Mal? Including Saito? And Arthur is Dom's enforcer and breaks people's fingers and stuff, and generally everyone is a horrible person except maybe Ariadne. Anyway, they pull it off and make a clean exit but because this is supposed to be noir Ariadne is tending bar and Dom is with his kids and Arthur and Eames do not ride off into the sunset together and basically no one is better off and so this is not the kind of story that most people want to read anyway.
> 
> Now you have it.

**Works inspired by this one:**

  * [[podfic] Came knocking at my door](https://archiveofourown.org/works/957704) by [Chestnut_filly](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Chestnut_filly/pseuds/Chestnut_filly)




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